Alex awoke with a start, and for a moment he had no idea where he was. It was dark and somewhat claustrophobic, and the world swayed around him. 

Once his head cleared a bit, he recognized the familiar motion of Rixie’s stride, and assumed he was somewhere on her person. 

Eventually he was able to poke his head free of the pocket he’d been lying in and found himself just below her chin in her right breast pocket. 

“Morning.” Rixie greeted him cheerfully. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d slipped into a coma.” 

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, stretching and rolling his neck, which was a little stiff from the awkward position he’d been sleeping in. 

“You’ve been asleep for about ten hours.” The Titaness informed him. 

“Oh.” Alex muttered. “I guess I was more exhausted than I realized.” 

He looked around and saw that they were heading down a corridor aboard the Gyfjon. He looked to his right and saw the massive form of Commander Tam striding next to Rixie. He glanced up and saw that the redheaded Titaness was keeping her gaze straight ahead. 

“Uhm.” Alex cleared his throat. “Hello Commander Tam.” 

The executive officer turned her gaze on him. “Alex.” her expression was blank and her voice had an edge of frost to it.

He was about to continue speaking when Rixie cleared her throat and interrupted him. 

“Lemm and I were about to go get something to eat from the Mess Hall. Are you hungry Alex.” 

“Uh, sure.” Alex mumbled. “I could eat.” 

“Okay.” 

Alex sat silently as they made their way to the Officer’s Mess. They retrieved their food and found a seat in a quiet corner of the room. Rixie gently removed Alex from her pocket and placed him on the side of her tray so he could eat off her plate. 

Fortunately Alex had grown accustomed to Archavian food in the time since Rixie had taken him in. He looked at the strange collection of food, it wasn’t a dish he was familiar with. The colors were all wrong but it almost looked like a stir-fry atop a bed of orange rice. 

Tentatively he reached out and picked up a piece of the “rice” and put in his mouth. It tasted like a dark, whole grain bread, but that might have had something to do with the fact that each “grain” was as long as a breadstick. 

Above his head, the Titans were having a conversation but Alex was far more interested in the food on Rixie’s plate. 

To a certain extent Alex found himself fascinated by Archavian cuisine- or at least the regional cuisines that he’d thus far been introduced to. He watched with interest as Rixie took small piece of flatbread from a basket in the center of the table and- after breaking a corner off for him- used it to scoop the stir-fry into her mouth in place of a fork. 

Alex took the small piece of bread and dipped it in the sauce. The bread itself was chewy and reminded him of a pita, while the sauce was somewhat spicy like a thick sriracha. 

Of course, spicy foods had never bothered Alex. He’d once won a fifty dollar bet by chugging a small bottle of tabasco sauce. 

Alex suddenly felt eyes on him and glanced up to see Lemm scrutinizing him. As if waiting for him to speak.

The human sighed and hoped this wouldn’t be a long conversation; otherwise he was going to get a crick in his neck. 

He set the piece of bread in his hand down on the edge of Rixie’s plate 

“So uh… Commander Tam… I guess we really haven’t been introduced… I’m Alex.” 

“Mmhmm…” Lemm responded, arching an eyebrow. 

Alex cleared his throat. “And uh, I just wanted to… to apologize for going into your quarters. Izzy and I really shouldn’t have done that…” 

Lemm looked down at him with an inscrutable expression, which tied Alex’s stomach in knots. Finally, after what felt like an eternity: 

“I accept your apology.” 

And with that she turned back to Rixie and continued their conversation, leaving Alex sitting on Rixie’s tray, unsure of how he should feel. 

Suddenly there was a beeping noise and Lemm pulled the collar of her uniform closer to her mouth. 

“Lemm here.” 

Alex heard a tinny electronic voice. “Commander, could you inform the Imperators that we are nearing Tatendi Station and will be arriving there shortly?” 

“Aye sir. Legatus-Imperator Rixie is here with me right now, and we’ll inform Imperator Nix on the way to the Bridge.” 

The two of them rose from their seats. Rixie quickly deposited Alex on her shoulder. After disposing of their trays, the two titanesses left the mess hall and made their way to the bridge. On the way Vanser Nix joined them, having been contacted by the Bridge in his quarters.

“Finally there, eh?” He asked with a grin. “Good. All these delays are starting to make me restless.” 

“Believe me, I understand.” Rixie muttered rolling her eyes in exasperation. 

The three of them, plus Alex, stepped onto the bridge. 

Alex looked around eagerly. It was a circular room covered in computer terminals at the front. Behind those were three chairs for the Captain, the Executive Officer and the Science’s Officer. Displayed on the massive viewscreen at the front of the bridge was the disk-shaped Tatendi Station.

When he saw them enter, Bass rose to greet them.

“Imperators. As you can see we’ve safely arrived.” 

“Excellent.” Rixie smiled. “When will we be docking?” 

Bass turned to one of the computer terminals, where a young man was speaking into a headset. “Any word from the station, Crewman Jax?”

Jax looked up, a chagrined look on his face. “I’m having some… difficulties, captain.” 

Bass arched an eyebrow. “Such as?” 

“Well uh…” Jax cleared his throat. “I’m having some issue with the flight control for the station…” 

Bass blinked, an amused smile appearing on his lips. “Of course you are. Put them on full audio please.” 

“Uh, yes sir…”

There was a click and suddenly a nasally sounding voice filed the air around them. 

“…Sorry Gyfjon, but as I said, I’m afraid we’re especially busy at this time and do not have a berth available for a ship your size, military or not.” 

“I’m sorry, to whom am I speaking?” Bass asked, doing his best to keep his voice calm and pleasant. 

“…This is flight control for Tantendi Station… and I’d like to ask you the same thing- to whom am I speaking?” 

“Captain Aertimus Bass.”

“Well, I’m sorry Captain Bass, but as I was saying to your communications officer, we really don’t have a berth-“ 

Bass jerked his hand across his neck and the audio muted with a beep. 

“Flight control.” He muttered rolling his eyes. “Bunch of trumped up little dictators, the lot of them.”

“Mind if I take a crack at him?” Rixie asked with a gleam in her eyes. 

Bass turned toward her and arched his eyebrow. Despite his rather odd introduction to the tall woman, Bass was starting to develop a genuine admiration for the Imperator. 

“By all means.” 

Rixie nodded and the audio returned with another beep. 

“Hello there!” Rixie said pleasantly. “Am I speaking with the Dockmaster?” 

“Uh… no… I’m a flight controller.” 

“I see. May I speak with the dockmaster please?” 

“Uh… one moment please.”

Other than a few muffled sounds, the line went silent for a few moments. 

“This is the dockmaster, what do you want!?” The new voice was anything but polite. This didn’t seem to phase Rixie in the slightest, on the contrary it seemed to delight her. 

“I’m speaking on behalf of the Gyfjon. We require a berth on your station.” 

“Gyfjon?!” The dockmaster squawked. “We don’t have you scheduled.” 

“No, you wouldn’t. We’re on a time sensitive mission and so weren’t able to call ahead for a reservation.” Despite the dockmaster’s attitude, Rixie’s tone never wavered. 

“I don’t care. We don’t have a space for you.” 

Rixie dug out her datapad and her fingers danced across the interface as she pulled up a file. 

“Now you and I both know that’s entirely false. At least it is assuming you are in compliance with article sixteen, sub-section rho?”

“I…Who is this?” 

“Legatus-Imperator Rixie Tam.” Rixie replied, still keeping her tone pleasant. “Now… I’m going to ask you again, dockmaster, do you have an open berth- as you’re required to keep one open against emergency military use- or will I need to file a report with S.I. that would most assuredly result in bad news for you?” 

“Did… did you say Legatus-Imperator?” 

“I certainly did.” Rixie responded. “I do hope that wasn’t the only part of that little speech you heard, I would hate to have to repeat myself.” 

“No, no. I didn’t realize you were a military vessel, Gyfjon.”

“Sure you didn’t.” Rixie muttered to herself. “It’s not like you just said it or anything…”

“Of course we have the uh required berth for you.”

“Good. I’ll have Mr. Jax sort the details out with you. Goodbye.” There was a click as Jax transferred the audio back to his headset. 

“I did miss being able to throw rank around on occasion.” Rixie smiled wistfully and turned back to Lemm. “But I suppose now I just boss Alex around.” 

“Oh ha ha.” Alex muttered from his place on her shoulder. 

“We should be docked with Tatendi station in approximately one hour, Captain.” The helm controller informed Captain Bass. 

“Good.” He turned back to Rixie and Vanser. “Is there anything we can do for you in the meantime?” 

“Not that I can think of no.” Vanser replied. “Rixie and I will just be looking for information.” 

“Sir, I’d like to request permission to go with the Imperators.” Lemm spoke up suddenly. 

Bass turned to his second in command. “What for?” 

Lemm shrugged and jerked her thumb in Rixie’s direction. “She needs me to look after her.” 

It’s true, I do.” Rixie said with a grin.

Bass rolled his eyes. “Permission granted.” 

“So how soon do we leave?” Alex asked.

Rixie glanced down at him, and smiled. 

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“This is so unfair.” Alex groused, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Aw come on Alex.” Lauryna replied in a cheerful voice. “It won’t be so bad hanging out with Izzy and me for a few hours, now will it?” 

“That’s not the point. I don’t need to be… babysat.” Alex sat down on Lauryna’s desktop sullenly. “Rixie’s off exploring a cool space station and I’m stuck here. Um… No offense Lauryna.”

“None taken.” Lauryna sat down at the desk. “I can understand how you feel. Being a junior officer, I don’t get to go on a lot of the interesting missions either.” 

“Aw quit your griping.” Izzy said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “I’ve been stuck on this ship for months at least. And now I’m imprisoned in this room on top of it.” 

“That’s your own fault Izzy. You shouldn’t have gone into the Commander’s quarters.” Lauryna shot back. 

Izzy grumbled indistinctly, but didn’t reply. 

“Anyway.” Lauryna’s voice suddenly became bright and chipper again. “Let’s find something to do, how about a movie?” 

“Sounds fine to me.” Alex shrugged and stood up. “What do you have?” 

“Um, how about ‘The Hidden Empress’ or maybe ‘The Vashana Talker’?” Lauryna suggested, scrolling through the vidfiles on her computer. 

Alex blinked. “I don’t suppose you have anything from Earth?” 

Lauryna shrugged. “Nope sorry. The only Earth movie I’ve ever seen was the one they showed us at the Academy. It was way too short, not nearly enough time to tell a proper story.” 

“What movie was that?” Alex asked. 

“I think it was called ‘Gone with the Wind.’” 

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

As they stepped through the door that led from the docking bay, Rixie reflected on the number of space stations and ports she’d been in over her career. After a while, they tended to blur together and it became hard to distinguish one from the other. 

Of course, Tatendi station was built chiefly for Dunnermacs, so it was unique in that aspect. If anything the choice of blue, green and coral pink décor would help it stand out in her mind against the dozens of dark grey and black corridors of Archavian designed space stations. 

If Rixie was perfectly honest, that change was rather refreshing, in fact. 

“So what’s our first stop Rixie?” Lemm asked, stepping up behind her and looking around impassively. 

“We need information.” Rixie said, leading them down the corridor. “Let’s start by showing around the picture of Trell and the other two, maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will have seen them.” 

“Where do we start?” Lemm asked. 

“Where do you think?” 

The three of them made their way to the Station’s security center. Once there they met with a polite Dunnermac woman who identified herself as Tesra, the Head of Security. 

“I apologize profusely, Imperator Tam, but I can’t say that any of those individuals look at all familiar. If you like, I will have my people comb through security footage from the point where you say they escaped and see if we can spot anything.” 

Rixie’s mood sunk, but she smiled politely at the young woman. “That would be very helpful, Decanus. Thank you.” 

They left the security center and walked down the corridor. At every checkpoint and post they showed the personnel stationed the photos, but none seemed to know anything or have any useful information. 

Thoroughly frustrated, the trio made their way to the civilian sector of the station. At this point, Rixie noticed something that gave her some hope. A place where she could possibly find the information they sought

A tavern.

“I feel like a drink.” She said, grinning. “Come on, I’m buying.”

They entered the station’s pub and looked around. Though the station itself was built with Dunnermacs in mind, it was obvious that this bar was made for clientele of other races. Only a few of the tables were partially submerged, and most were made with dry-land species in mind.

Vanser looked around the bar interestedly, when something caught his eye.

“You two scope the place out.” Vanser muttered to his two companions, “I’ll go talk to the bartender.” He carefully made his way between the pools and tables towards the bar, and if there had been any doubt that this bar was geared towards non-dunnermacs, the purple and green mottled Ler male behind the bar would have made it clear. 

Vanser approached the bar and slid onto an empty stool.

“Bartender!” He yelled, banging his fist on the bar top. “I require immediate assistance!” 

The Ler looked up from where he was cleaning out an empty glass. “Brr will be with you momentarily!” He quickly finished wiping up and shuffled down the bar to where Rixie was seated. 

“What sort of beverage do you require!?” The reptilian male yelled. 

“None. I seek information. Have you seen any of these Titans?!” Vanser tapped a button on his datapad and holographic pictures of Trell, Dorok and Greno projected into the air between them. 

“Brr has seen none of these strange Titans!” The bartender yelled, slamming his palms onto the bar top between them. 

It was quick, but Vanser caught just the slightest twitch in the young lizard-creature’s eye. A telltale sign that told him he wasn’t being told the full truth. 

“You lie!” He shouted. “You will tell me the truth of the matter, or I will have you arrested!” 

The Lerr’s eyes shifted away and he mumbled something unintelligible. 

Vanser’s eyes widened and He grabbed the bartender by his shirt collar, mindful of the poisonous spikes that the bartender could potentially shoot out at him. 

“You dare mumble to me?” He whispered menacingly. “I have never seen such disrespect. Do you know to whom you are speaking?” 

“I do not care.” Brr muttered evasively. “You will not get any information from me…” 

Vanser narrowed his eyes and was just about to deploy his full range of interrogative techniques on the recalcitrant Lerr, when somebody tapped him on the shoulder. 

It was Lemm. 

“Over here, Imperator Nix. We found somebody that knows something.” 

Vanser glanced back at the bartender. 

“Don’t leave town.” He said, then left him there, looking very confused. 

Lemm led him to the back corner of the seating area, where a young dunnermac was lounging in a pool of green water. 

“All right, what information do you have for us?” Rixie asked, sitting on the edge of the tub. 

“I’m happy to render whatever aid I can, Imperator.” The dunnermac smiled pleasantly. “It just so happens that I did see some of the people you’re searching for.” 

“Which ones?” 

“The two males, unless I am mistaken.” The informant shifted slightly in his pool, causing a small splash. “I think I saw them boarding a transport for Narena Colony.” 

Rixie bit her lip in concentration. “It’s an outer territory. If I wanted to lay low for a while, that’s where I would head too.” 

“It does make sense.” Vanser nodded. 

“And you’re certain you did not see this woman?” Lemm asked, flashing Trell’s photo again. 

“Apologies Commander,” The amphibian’s tone was polite. “But I am certain I did not see her.” 

Rixie shrugged. “It’s something, which is more than we had before.” She stood. “Come on, we don’t have time to wait for those security vids. We’ll just have to take the gamble and hope we get lucky. We’ll have the Decanus send us those security vids when she’s done compiling them, but for now, we need to go back to the ship.” 

“Just a second…” Vanser muttered, glancing back over his shoulder. “I knew it.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the green mottled tail of the lerr bartender slip through the door of the tavern. 

“Come on; let’s see what our reptilian friend is up to, shall we?” 

Quietly, the trio of officers followed the young lerr at a discrete distance. They did their utmost at blending in with the crowd, but it didn’t seem particularly necessary as the bartender didn’t seem to be very observant. 

Eventually, he led them to a deserted corner of the station where his own quarters seemed to be. Glancing around suspiciously, he ducked inside and the door hissed shut behind him. 

Rixie, Lemm and Vanser knelt down next to the wall. Rixie slipped her hand into her equipment pouch and extracted a small listening device which she placed in her ear. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Vanser do the same. 

There was a hiss of static before the lerr’s voice came in loud and clear. 

“…Military officers asking questions! They were looking for the woman you spoke to several days ago! Brr was crafty and did not answer their questions, but felt it wise to warn you puny Titan!” 

The voice that answered didn’t sound terribly impressed. “You had better not be lying to me Brr, believe me it would not be in your best interest. Keep me informed.” 

“I will do so!” 

There was another click as the reptilian severed the connection. 

Rixie cautiously removed the listening device from her ear. 

“Should we arrest him or something?” Lemm asked. 

Rixie shook her head. “He’s a smokescreen. We take him in, he won’t be able to tell us anything useful and the people he works for will be alerted. Best to leave him where he is, but he’ll be monitored from this point on.”

“I’ll pass along a message to Decanus Tesra.” Vanser nodded, as he rose back to his feet.

“Okay.” Rixie muttered to the other two. “Now we need to get back to the ship.”